Kazakhstan Shut Down Internet And Mobile Networks In A Bid To Prevent A 'Kazakh Spring'

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, autocratic ruler of the
post-Soviet country for 20 years, has reportedly shut down large
portions of his country's mobile and internet networks in a bid
to quell recent rioting,
TechEye reports.

Details on the uprising are unclear given the secretive nature of
Nazarbayev's government,
but reports from Eurasianet suggest the protests are a
response to the death of at least 10 people in anti-government
gatherings in Zhanaozen, an oil-producing town, on the country's
December 16 Independence Day celebrations.

A few hundred workers are thought to have been involved in a long
dispute over wages — a large number for a country that has long
existed without any visible dissent.

As protests gathered steam in surrounding towns over the weekend,
Nazarbayev was able to implement emergency rule in Zhananozen,
restricting journalists movement in out and out of the city,
according to
Eurasianet, and allegedly blocking access to sites such as
Twitter.

TechEye reports that the government was also able to switch
off mobile phone networks and internet connections in Zhanaozen
to hinder organization. The government denies this and alleges
that the networks went out due to damages caused by rioters.

Authorities now insist that the uprisings in Zhanaozen, a city of
90,000, have been calmed.

However
Reuters reports that today a hundred protestors — sacked in
May from their jobs on oil fields after striking — have faced off
against riot police in Aktau, capital of the western Mangistau
region, demanding to know who ordered the police to fire on the
crowd in Zhanaozen.

"Why did our relatives die as a result of a peaceful, social
argument?" Nurzhan Imangaliyev told the news agency.